You Might Be A “Smooth Operator” If…

You might be a “smooth operator” if: you tell someone playing in a semifinal game that you not only lobbied with the captain for them to be on the team – but also know that they actually made an effort with the team captain to muscle YOU off the team (yeah…I know all about that little stunt)!

All’s fair in trivia and war? I feel I more than proved last Saturday that I can definitely pull my weight at the trivia table!

I expect NOTHING but cutthroat competition at the MTL finals August 10. Not only competition between teams – but within the teams themselves. Since there is only room for four players per team, I can certainly see why there would be “jockeying” for position with some of the teams (especially since the top prize has been bumped up to $4,000)! With some teams, there could even be last minute shakeups in the lineups. As I know too well, sometimes a last minute “shakeup” can be a game changer! More about that in a bit…

Sigh…if only I had one of “those” trivia teams where instead of having to beg for players at every tournament – I’m in the position to have to decide who gets cut! Only once did I get an “outside” player come to me and ask to be part of my roster. His own MTL team had decided that he didn’t make the cut (they brought in a “ringer from Vegas”). In that case, I politely asked if one of my players REALLY wanted to play with us – or if he’d be just as cool with stepping aside (he isn’t one of the more “serious” players on my team – and has said that he only comes to trivia if there are no “better offers.” He stepped aside, the “suitor” got his shot at playing with us – and we wound up winning first. The player who stepped aside wound up getting a nominal cut of the prize money, too (but that was only because we won the “big” prize).

I did “vet” this player a bit before he joined my team! He had been a longtime follower of my trivia team’s Facebook page, and we’d occasionally message back and forth. I knew from our conversations that he wasn’t just an “armchair” trivia player. But what really sealed the deal was when I asked him to describe his strong trivia areas – and he sent me a PDF of his Learned League stats! Nuf…said!

I honestly don’t think any teams will come to me and ask if I want to play with them on August 10. I can’t ask for time off in August, because it’s on “blackout” with my employer, so I’m “technically” available to play that day. But it would depend upon a LOT of things! I don’t want to play with just “any” team. Hey…I’m not THAT much of a “trivia whore!” 🙂

In other news? An Original Gravity game is “possible” next week (August 8). I have one interested payer on board and am trying to get a third. It will be a “special engagement” since I can’t play Wednesday (mom’s birthday), and I have to do an early game Thursday because I work Friday. I kind of miss the place…it will be good to come back for a night!